Chapter 7: How to Brief a Magical Girl in Five Seconds or Less

Izumi got healthier, and grew stronger the more she kept regenerating her mana through a weird combination of our tether, ambient mana, and willpower.

She also grew angrier, and more spiteful.

None of it towards me, though.

I knew who she was thinking of.

Every single person in her homeworld that had wronged her and locked her up.

Now wouldn't be the time to give the "anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering" spiel a certain old green goblin guy from that one sci-fi movie once said.

She was way beyond that point.

I could only hope that once she was out and about, she could contain herself and not risk hurting herself anyone else.

“Keizo…”

I turned so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

She wasn’t just sitting up this time. She was standing. Knees wobbling, hands shaking, but still — standing.

Her lips moved again, slower, like she was testing the words in her own ears and slowly getting used to their sounds.

“I… live.”

Holy crap, holy crap, this ain't no drill!

I almost collapsed with relief, but quickly regained myself and rushed to her side trying not to barrel into her.

"Izumi…"

"What? What… what did I do?" she asked me. The tremors in her hands continued, making her words difficult to understand.

"You're…you're standing?"

"Most certainly Keizo, I want... to go back."

"Back? Back where?"

We stared at each other and finally I realized.

"Your world."

"I want.. to show you something..." She staggered, almost falling down.

"Okay."

"Can you please help me get up?"

"Of course, of course. Let's go, then."

I helped her stand up, supporting most of her weight.

"Thank you."

The look on her face reminded me of when she first appeared to me in my mirror, a sort of fear mixed with awe and wonder.

She looked at me, eyes wide, as if she wanted to tell me something.

"If the tether is as strong as we believe it to be... there's a chance you can..."

I leaned in trying to catch every word.

"Heal me... yourself... anything with an aether signature."

I read into what she was trying to say, she was asking for help. Indirectly.

She was still trembling, her legs threatening to give out, but her eyes burned with a weird fire.

“Keizo… you must learn now. Before my strength wanes again.”

“Learn what? You just stood up for the first time in… ever. You should rest.”

She shook her head, clutching my arm like a lifeline. “No. Rest will not restore me. Not fully. But you… you can.”

“Me?”

Her lips parted, like she was about to drop the most obvious truth in the world. “We are tethered. If you reach into yourself, into the line that binds us… you may call forth thaumaturgic restoratives.”

“That sounds like a Fate of War menu option.”

"That game you used to play, I see. This however, is no jest." She said managing a faint smile.

"So… it's really possible?"

"We broke through a mirror and that is what you ask me?" She thwacked me on the head meekly, still clutching onto my arm. "How foolish can you be?"

Right, doubting myself, I remember that whole thing we went over.

"Ok, no more doubting, you're right, we achieved the impossible. This is child's play, surely?"

"Now you're getting it!" She placed her hands on my shoulders, and in turn, her weight was shifted towards me.

"Now then," shuffled back. "Place your hand on my head."

Done.

Felt cold.

No warmth at all.

But at least I know what I'm doing. At least… I have some idea.

"Chant the words 'Mana Restitute' with me."

And so we did, as soon as that last word escaped my mouth, a raw beam of green light flashed out of my palm, engulfing Izumi in its aura.

When it subsided, she was... euphoric.

She began to levitate and rapidly float around my room in an excited blur.

She casted harmless light shows and mild wind manipulation and even used a handful of small energy bursts that pinged off wildly all around. She threw water at me and danced on the top of my desk with an impish giggle. Then the little whirlwind vanished and she was back, still floating.

“Keizo! You did it! Look at what I can do!”

I was in awe.

Didn't last forever though, as she flew around again I noticed her expression shift from joyful to an almost exultant wrath.

I sat down. 

Eyes widening at the thought.

I healed a monster and broke it free of its strings.

And now its 1000% more likely to make me tag along.

⊹˚₊‧──────────────‧₊˚⊹ ⟡ ✧ a temporal jump ✧ ⟡ ⊹˚₊‧──────────────‧₊˚⊹

This particular point in my life was far different than what I thought it would be.

I'm willing to bet if you asked me what I'd be doing in the last of my high school years before university, I'd say something like 'I will Crush the Fate of War: 1407 leaderboards! Become the world's biggest speedrunning streamer ever and ditch school entirely!'

Yeah. Only one of those things came true. I’ll let you guess which.

And then there was the other side to my life: life as the emotional support for the most powerful magical girl on earth and the greater universe. Or so I'm told. By her. 

Every day was Casual Friday, I guess. Except the "casual" part was wearing the same hoodie three days in a row, and the "Friday" part was her figuring out how to work the TV remote.

As I trudged out to take out the trash, feeling like a responsible adult who'd been turned inside out and lobotomized, I considered whether throwing out trash could actually be classified as a heroic quest.

But that wasn't the case.

"Keizo?"

I nearly dropped the trash bag. My heart nearly jumped into my throat.

Standing in the driveway were Mika and Eiji. Both of them. Alive. Breathing. Smiling at me, like I'd just saved the day or something.

I didn't think they'd even remember me being outside of school as so far removed from the school's social ecosystem.

And yet, here they were.

The two of them, irreplaceable in a world gone completely crazy.

“Uh… hey,” I tried my best to sound casual, while completely butchering the delivery.

Mika tilted her head and gave me that “Keizo, seriously, what happened to you?” look that somehow made my entire body feel like crumpling.

Eiji just waved like nothing was wrong and grinned like a total meathead, which actually made me a little angry at him for being so annoyingly alive and unbothered.

"You've... changed," Mika said carefully, choosing her words as if in a minefield.

"You look like you slayed a dragon, like, in real life bro." Eiji added.

"It... doesn't matter. It's fine."

They didn’t press further. For a moment, we just stood there. The air felt different, like the universe had hit pause for a beat. I hadn’t seen them in weeks, and in that instant, it felt like a century. My life outside of Izumi’s chaos, outside of the mirror, had been paused, left to collect dust.

Eiji finally waved his arms dramatically. “Alright, enough existential dread. Let’s get breakfast or something. You look like hell, bro. And your bedhead? Equally hellish.”

Mika smirked. “You’ve got bags under your eyes. Like… bags with bags.”

I groaned. “Thanks, I’ll file that under ‘helpful observations.’”

They laughed, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt... grounded.

Normal.

Normal enough.

I then proceeded to zone out while I autonomously sorted through which bit of trash goes in which bin, nodding along occasionally.

"God, no matter what state he's in it's always the same." I caught Mika mutter to Eiji, loud enough for me to hear.

"So is that a 'yes' Keizo? You're just kinda nodding, so, I don't know." Eiji asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"...sure, dude."

I was definitely out of it.

"Cool then lead the way," Mika said, playfully thwacking me on the shoulder, a small grin tugging at the edges of her lips.

Wait. What? No hang on...

I had barely recovered from the shock of seeing Mika and Eiji alive when I realized I had just… invited them over.

“Uh… yeah, sure, come by anytime,” I had said absent-mindedly, thinking I was just being polite, maybe trying to seem like a functioning human being again.

"By any time, we mean now, dorkface." Mika stuck her tongue out at me racing Eiji up the driveway.

No. No, Keizo. That was a mistake. A colossal, world-ending-level mistake.

Because now it hit me like a falling anvil coated in tar. There was no way out. There was no way to explain this away.

Holy shit, Izumi.

Holy shit, Izumi in my house.

Holy shit, Izumi can end worlds.

Holy shit, if they find out, everything is over. My life. Their lives. Probably half the neighborhood.

My brain and feet both went into overdrive. Five seconds. FIVE SECONDS TO BRIEF HER BEFORE THE DOOR OPENS.

Cue panic mode:

Step one: explain her casually as a roommate? Bad. She’s not casual.

Step two: tell them she’s a magical girl with universe-bending powers? Worse.

Step three: invent a cover story on the fly? Yeah, sure, if I want to spontaneously combust.

I raced past both of them and closed the door behind me loudly exclaiming I'll need a bit to get decent.

I spun toward her. “Izumi! Uh… guest! Surprise! Humans! Totally normal humans! Not magical girls or guys, just regular people, got it?”

She blinked at me, tilting her head like a cat, completely unbothered, and… smiled.

No. No smile. Not now.

Izumi raised an eyebrow. Slowly. Deliberately.

I could swear the universe condensed into the moment before the door opened. My lungs were on strike. My palms had apparently gone on vacation to the Sahara.

And then…

Click.

The door started to open.

Oh. My. God.

Izumi, sensing the approaching mortals, gracefully—but also terrifyingly—floated toward the doorway. Hair and aura shimmering, a few tiny motes of magic still dancing around her hands like fireworks.

Okay, Keizo, you have five seconds to cue her. FIVE.

“Uh… Izumi! Smile! NOD! Wave! Stop floating! Pretend normal! Human! Maybe… look like… a girl who watches TV doramas and eats ramen? YES?!”

She cocked her head. “TV dorama… Ramen… Very well. I shall simulate this behavior pattern.”

Holy shit, she’s simulating human behavior. That’s worse.

“Keizo-dono,” she said, voice melodic but terrifyingly serene, “are these the entities you were referencing?”

I turn to find the door flung open with Eiji and Mika standing at the door gobsmacked.

Nope nope nope.

I dove into full mental triage mode: “Uh, yes! Guests! Totally mundane! Regular school friends! Very human! Zero magical world context! Please act… like… very human. Very… uh… boring!”

I heard Eiji whisper to Mika something about going off the rails.

I sputtered at her internally.

If only you two absolute dunderheads knew about everything that had to happen for this exact moment to occur in time.

If only.

Mika and Eiji froze for a half-second—then both burst out laughing.

I almost breathed out my entire lungs out of relief.

“You… either have a batshit crazy chuunibyou cosplay fanatic girlfriend you’re ditching school for,” Mika wheezed, clutching her stomach, “or that… girl who looks like she just waltzed out of medieval europe is your cousin.”

Eiji doubled over. “Yeah, and honestly… both seem equally plausible!”

I stood there, helpless, waving my arms. “No! Stop! Neither! She’s… she’s… she’s…”

Oh for crying out loud, Keizo just stop talking.

Izumi, twirling serenely in the center of the room, blinked at me. “Keizo-dono… are you attempting to explain the situation? I may be able to assist—”

Sigh. What do I even say to that?

This is what I get for spacing-out and blindly agreeing to things.